Foot-sole protector



Fan 22 1924.

J. s. EDWARDS FOOT SOLE PROTECTOR Filed May 11, 1921 P&&ERE 22, 1924.

STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FOOT-SOLE PROTECTOR Application filed. Kay 11, 1821.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH S. EDWARDS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Foot-Sole Protectors, of which the following is a specification.

It is the object of this invention to pro vide a protector embedded in the sole of a shoe, and so arranged that stones, or other surface projections, cannot injure the. sole of the foot through the sole of the shoe.

More specifically, the invention resides in the provision of a protecting plate preferably of metal and embedded in the sole of the shoe over the ball of the foot. The

plate is thus adapted to provide protecting I means at the point of most intimate contact with the ground, and the plate terminates at the rear of the ball of the foot along a line short of the line of naturalbend in the from the following description of the accom an 'drawin s, in which:

' Fi gur e i is a plai i view of the sole of a shoe having the improved protector embedded therein and partly broken away.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

The protector may be employed in connection with a shoe of usual construction in- 40 eluding sole 1 terminating in the instep portion 2 and connected to the upper 4 of the shoe in the usual manner. The usual inner sole 5 is arranged within the shoe and is connected to the upper 4 with ausual layer of water proof material, such as ground Serial No. 468,601.

cork -6, between sole.

The protector is shown as a metallic plate 7 which is positioned against the layer of cork 6, so that the outer sole 1 will overlie the same, and this protecting plate may be held in position against lateral displacement by being nailed to the inner sole, as shown at 8.

The plate 7 is of such size and shape as to extend over the ball of the foot while leaving the toe portion of the sole of the shoe free of said protecting plate. By this arrangement the bending movement of the toes when walking is unencumbered by the protector, which naturally has a tendency to stiffen the portion of the sole which extends over the ball of the foot.

In similar manner the rear edge of the protecting plate terminates at the rear of the ball of the foot and short of the line of greatest bend across the sole and in front of the instep when walking.

The protector thus provides means at the ball of the foot for reventing sharp obstacles upon the ground bearing against the Sole of the shoe so as to injure the foot, while at the same time the protector is so positioned as to not interfere with the free movement of the foot.

Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

the inner sole and the outer A shoe having a metallic protecting plate 

